APA's sales survey and its consumer survey differ

The writer's problem

An audiobook narrator, rights-holder or publisher trying to gauge the size and health of the audio market runs into several differently sourced numbers under similar names, and citing the wrong one changes the claim being made. On 5 June 2026, the Audio Publishers Association's own press release reported two of its own surveys at once, and distinguishing them is the first task before using either figure.

What the documents show

The release states the APA Sales Survey, conducted by Toluna, found audiobook sales revenue reached $2.43 billion in 2025, up 9%, with publishers reporting over 750,000 active titles, a 43% increase from 2024. Separately, in the same release, the APA states its 2026 Consumer Survey, conducted by Edison Research at SSRS, found 58% of Americans age 18 and over have listened to an audiobook, an estimated 157 million people, based on an online survey of 1,706 spoken-word audio listeners in February 2026. These are two different instruments: the Sales Survey aggregates publisher-reported revenue and title counts, while the Consumer Survey samples individual listeners about behavior, using a different research firm and unit of measurement. The release also states AI-narrated audiobook revenue amounted to 0.03% of the market in 2025, even as willingness to try one fell from 70% to 61%, again from the Consumer Survey. Neither figure is the same measurement as the separate annual survey a different national trade body compiles for the broader US book market; the APA's own site describes the organization, formed in 1986, as a trade association specifically for audio publishers, distinct from that broader body.

The editorial choice

An editor citing audiobook statistics should name which of the two APA surveys, or which outside body's report, a figure comes from, rather than writing audiobook sales or audiobook listeners as if one survey covered both revenue and behavior. This is an editorial discipline the release itself supports: it labels each figure by its own survey and research firm, and blending the listening figure with the sales figure as though they describe the same measurement would misstate what either survey found.

What stays with the author

Neither survey reports figures at the level of an individual narrator, rights-holder, or title, so an author cannot use either total to estimate their own audiobook's performance. The release's own AI-narration figures describe an aggregate share of total revenue and a general willingness question, not a comparison of outcomes between AI-narrated and human-narrated editions of comparable titles, a comparison the source does not attempt.

• Is a cited audiobook figure about revenue, or about listener behavior, and which survey produced it?
• Which research firm conducted the survey, and does the release name a sample size and period?
• Is the figure being compared against a different trade body's report without naming that the methodology differs?

The Audio Publishers Association's own release keeps its Toluna-run sales figures and its Edison-run consumer figures separate; treating them as interchangeable, or as directly comparable to a different industry body's own annual report, goes beyond what either survey measured.